


Hold Me Close (and hold me fast)

by IlliterateReader



Series: The Raft AU [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Study and Introspection (sort of), Episode: s03e14-15 The Boiling Rock, Episode: s03e21 Sozin's Comet Part 4 Avatar Aang, Gen, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Hakuddles (Technically), The World's Most Political Custody Battle, Western Air Temple, implied background Bato/Hakoda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25201795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IlliterateReader/pseuds/IlliterateReader
Summary: “And you know Prince Zuko?” Now that was someone he hadn’t thought about in a while.“The Crown Prince? Everyone’s heard of him.” He didn’t want to explain to Sokka that he’d met the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation and didn’t immediately use that to his advantage. That’d mean that he had to talk about the whole Raft Thing. He didn’t want to talk about the Raft Thing.orBy water, by blood, and by right.An analysis of Zuko as Hakoda's adopted... something, told in three parts throughout canon. The next installment of my Hakoda and Zuko on a Raft AU.
Relationships: Hakoda & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: The Raft AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809331
Comments: 95
Kudos: 1698
Collections: Zuko and The Water Tribe





	Hold Me Close (and hold me fast)

**Author's Note:**

> Alright. Some of you guys have wanted more, so here's more. This was actually planned to be attached to the first installment as a second chapter, but I decided to make it its own thing because it looks better, I guess.
> 
> And yes, reading the previous installment is going to be required because otherwise this AU would make Hakoda horribly OOC, with the trust and everything.
> 
> Tumblr is at whats-a-reading.tumblr.com for writing updates, ATLA content reblogs, and random other stuff.

######  _i. by water_

In retrospect, Hakoda should’ve seen it coming. The facts were laid out in front of him.

The capital was deserted except for those stationed there. 

They planned the invasion during the _eclipse_. Of course a nation that relies heavily on the sun would have enough knowledge of astronomy to predict an eclipse. Even when Sokka said there weren’t any records besides Wan Shi Tong’s library, of course the _Firelord_ knew. 

Well, brilliant, brave Sokka was why he didn’t notice. That wasn’t his fault. Hakoda should’ve known. 

He should’ve known, but his precious, precious son was so enthusiastic and thoughtful and persuasive in explaining the whole plan to him that Hakoda didn’t see the one thing that made it all fall apart. That there was a chance that the Fire Nation would weigh their giant shame complex about “The Darkest Day”, as his son called the historical event, against common sense and the latter would win.

And that the Royal Family had _Plans_. 

Fuck, the Fire Nation had an Air Force now. How were they supposed to compete with that?

He seethed at the Fire Nation. Damn them for having fancy inventions, and the ruthless, machine-like efficiency to match. 

It was all he could do to keep himself sane as he was secured to be put in a boiling pit of lava. Probably even literally.

Hakoda was in the middle of trying to get a read on his fellow prisoners when he was shoved out of the gondola. 

Figures. Just one long string of humiliation on a dirty platter. Shoved in his face.

Well, while he was there, he was going to make them _take_ it back.

—————

Once this all blew over and he broke out of this place, Hakoda was going to rate the Fire Nation a zero out of ten. Too much red, the Firelord was a genocidal maniac and it ran in the family, and he was in prison. 

Seriously. Prison red was _not_ his color. Or red in general. Oh yeah, and he was completely alone and separated from his co-conspirators upon capture in the first place. 

And he even got a _guard visit_ on the _first day_ , as a fun treat.

He made to knock out the Fire bastard before he could try anything when—

Sokka. 

_What are you doing._

Sokka, where did he go wrong in his parenting? Why was his son infiltrating the maximum security prison? The last time Hakoda checked, he advised against carrying out plans that a brain would automatically reject.

Well, no matter. Hakoda didn’t expect to see family so soon. He wasn’t thinking. He just pulled Sokka in and cried. 

His precious, precious son. 

He couldn’t believe that he had to explain to _his son_ that entering his cell dressed like _that_ was a bad idea.

“Yeah I ran into that problem earlier.” Sokka. What was his son _doing_? No one had better punched his son in the gut, even if Sokka would’ve earned it by being an idiot and not thinking.

Before he could ask, Sokka pushed the conversation forward and asked about the invasion forces.

Well, he did have to say the hard truth. If Sokka was planning something with all those men, he couldn’t. “The others are being held at a prison near the Fire Nation palace. They singled me out as their leader and sent me here.” But he did hear something about the… Oshinama Fighters? He said as much.

“You mean the Kyoshi Warriors?” Oh. He mixed them up with their rival group. He definitely meant the Kyoshi Warriors.

“That’s right.” From the way his son lit up when he corrected Hakoda, he hoped that Sokka wouldn’t notice that he actually forgot.

“Their leader Suki is here, and she’s gonna escape with us.” 

“Good. We’ll need all the help we can get.” 

“And you know Prince Zuko?” Now that was someone he hadn’t thought about in a while.

“The Crown Prince? Everyone’s heard of him.” He didn’t want to explain to Sokka that he’d met the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation and didn’t immediately use that to his advantage. That’d mean that he had to talk about the whole Raft Thing. He didn’t want to talk about the Raft Thing.

“Well, he’s here too.” _Tui and La_ , Prince Zuko was here? What was he doing here, inspecting a maximum security prison for the Firelord?

“Sounds like a major problem.” What Hakoda didn’t say, was that he doubted he could give his all if they had to fight Prince Zuko. And even without that problem, Zuko _was_ a capable fighter who almost forced him off the raft and hounded Sokka and his friends for ages. 

“Actually he’s on our side now.” What. Zuko was loyal to the Fire Nation after getting _his face burned by his father_ and _being on a wild penguin goose chase for the Avatar for three years_. What did Sokka and his friends do to break that loyalty, and why didn’t Hakoda figure it out earlier? It definitely wasn’t the Avatar—Aang talking friendship at him, right? 

Unless they didn’t do anything, and Zuko finally got some common sense, unlikely as that was. He had the perfect opportunity to in Ba Sing Se, from what Katara said.

“You got him on our side? How?” He had to ask. It was all confusing.

“He just randomly showed up one day and offered to teach Aang firebending—wait. Not that I’m not grateful for this since it makes everything easier, but why aren’t you suspicious?”

“He can’t lie to save his life. So he’s on your side now, and I trust your judgement, son.” He clapped Sokka’s shoulder as he finished speaking. His son looked like he needed some reassurance, so he gave it. 

“So, do you have a plan?” Hakoda had to steer the conversation back to breaking out. As much as he would’ve wanted to stay and have a long-needed conversation with his son, they could do that _after_ they’ve left.

“We had one, but some of the other prisoners got involved and ruined it. I dunno if there’s another way off this island.” Sokka looked dismayed.

“Sokka, there’s no prison in the world that can hold two Water Tribe geniuses.” Well, unless it was a Water Tribe prison, but those didn’t exist. And that clearly wasn’t a problem here.

“Then we’d better find two.” Oh, that was a good one. Hakoda was again glad that he was able to pass on his sense of humor, the years away were a scary threat to that legacy.

Back to business. The gondola could go both ways, and there was a warden. With enough teamwork, Hakoda bet they could put two and two together and escape.

They just needed a distraction.

“How about a riot?” His son was a genius. 

“Alright. So, we start a riot, and in the chaos we grab the warden and escape.”

Hopefully there wouldn’t be too much chaos, but Hakoda knew his luck. And apparently his son also inherited his luck. Well, the plan might just be crazy enough to work.

And with that finished, definitely-a-guard walked out. 

Hakoda was a proud father, and he allowed himself a small smile.

—————

Of course he just had to fail at starting a riot. It was fine. Random Boiling Rock prisoner just shouted at everyone to go riot, and they did. Why didn’t he think of that? Hakoda was always a fan of the straightforward, blunt approach.

It was impressive. The riot was total chaos, and it reminded Hakoda of the massive bar brawl he had witnessed once where everyone went out to the streets and a bunch of inebriated guards even joined in.

And so far, everything was going fine despite his initial hiccup. Even if Zuko had to do some magical leap onto the gondola that he only barely made with Sokka’s help and _damn_ , that was also impressive.

But, huh. Who were those girls? 

Hakoda asked aloud.

“That’s a problem. It’s my sister and her friend,” replied Zuko.

The logical consequence of things going well so far was the Fire Nation Princess, and friend, arriving on the scene. Who was a problem. Of course.

And what even were those acrobatics? 

Hakoda didn’t want to know anything about Fire Nation Royal training anymore, though he suspected he had to. He needed to know what he was up against when his children have clearly faced… enough of the royal family.

Apparently, there was a whole drama going on, since Zuko’s girlfriend—or ex, since he didn’t expect her to care about him?—just busted out all the knives from her sleeves and saved them.

Oh huh. Hakoda was really getting to experience Fire Nation transport. First a ship, and now a War Balloon. He couldn’t wait for the moment he got shoved into a Fire Nation tank next time.

That would definitely be fun.

_...Not._ It’d add to the list of Incidents, and Hakoda did not need more Incidents.

—————

Awkward was an understatement for the conversation aboard the War Balloon.

“So, Chit Sang, was it? What were you in for?” 

“I’m innocent! I swear!” That… wasn’t an answer. Hakoda had to push harder. Couldn’t have a murderer or rapist around his children.

At Hakoda’s look, the ex-con actually answered. Good. He still had it. “Officially, for terrorism. Unofficially, my cousin was in the 41st division three years ago, and my aunt was a clerk in the Palace.”

Zuko stiffened at the mention of the 41st and pulled out of whatever conversation he was having with Sokka and Suki.

Chit Sang seemed to also notice that. 

“Is that actually Prince Zuko,” he asked Hakoda while pointing at the person in question.

“Yep.” 

He fumbled into a bow while everyone looked on. Zuko looked like he wanted to immediately jump off the War Balloon. 

“Please, just. Get up?” Each word was higher pitched and more embarrassed than the last.

Chit Sang got up. That sort of helped.

“Okay but. What’s the deal with some forty-first division anyway?” Ah Sokka. Killing it with the Scientific Method. He needed to train his son in tact, though. It was clearly some important thing.

“Some general sent them off to die in a strategy that didn’t work anyway. They were all fresh recruits. Kuzon was sixteen.”

What. The Fire Nation didn’t even bother to give their recruits proper training and experience? Or send them on hit-and-run missions if they were desperate enough to use sixteen year olds? So, they deliberately didn’t keep their children out of the war. Those bastards, wasting the opportunity that their Tribe was deprived of. He had to include Sokka in the war effort. And he was only fifteen. It wasn’t fair. And it wasn’t fair that Chit Sang got arrested for merely having a cousin. A dead cousin, even.

Hakoda exhaled. 

“What does that have to do with Prince Jerkbender over here then?” Thanks, Sokka. Hakoda felt his curiosity get smothered. He couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“My aunt heard a Palace rumor. That Prince Zuko fought for the 41st in an Agni Kai. A duel, in case you Water folk don’t know. Fought for her son and everything. He lost to some old guy.”

Hakoda could draw his own conclusions. It was probably where he got the scar from.

The Firelord was some “old guy”, alright. 

But it wasn’t his story to tell. 

What he said next was, “Where are we going?”

Sokka took the opportunity to take over and babble about their new camp and how he single-handedly improved Team Avatar’s navigation skills, Zuko staring blankly into the distance as he seemed to contemplate how he lost to these disaster children and Suki looking more at Sokka’s face than his impassioned hand gestures.

Sokka had good taste in companions. 

They were going to be alright.

######  _ii. by blood_

Everyone was asleep. At least, Hakoda hoped so. Otherwise he would’ve been concerned about where all the snoring was coming from.

The words were still ringing in his head from a conversation earlier that night. 

_“Oh Sokka, go back to kissing your newfound _boyfriend_. I’m sure if you cuddle him enough, he won’t take advantage of that and betray us all to the Firelord.”_

His daughter, his precious amazing daughter Katara, had learned how to hate while he was gone. She learned how to hold it close to her chest, where the inner parts of herself reached, how to fuel it until it burned and burned and _burned_. 

Hakoda was suddenly grateful she wasn’t a firebender, he’d heard about how for those savages, the norm was fueling their bending with hateful emotions, like murder. What would’ve happened to her, then? 

_“Katara! I’m not dating him! And he’s trustworthy. He helped me break Dad and Suki out of prison, remember? And then he went all fwoosh against his crazy sister. We already told you guys over dinner.”_

And then Chit Sang randomly decided to step in. Probably because of that story he told back on the War Balloon. That probably made things personal, for him. 

_“Prince Zuko’s trustworthy, I swear. On my rations.”_

It wasn’t surprising that he swore on his rations, of all things. Apparently Toph and The Duke found it amusing.

_“Like _you’re_ any better. We just met you today.”_

Which. Fair. Katara did have the right to be suspicious.

But also, she was wrong. And, as Hakoda found out, they had a lie detector present.

_“Can’t Toph, was it, know who’s lying? We could check that way.”_

Hakoda had to ask. It was still kind of unclear.

_“She couldn’t tell that _Azula_ was lying. For all we know, it runs in the family. And at least his sister comes off as cold. He—” She punctuated this with a jab at Zuko, “—has a heart to heart with you, pretends to have feelings, and then he betrays you. Sokka, I don’t know how he brainwashed you to defend him today, but I’m not letting him do the same for me.”_

Zuko slunk into the shadows right after Katara jabbed at him. Those accusations wouldn’t have been great to hear for anyone, he bet. In his head, because Hakoda was sort of worried someone would take him up on it. Someone being Katara. Hakoda would not raise a fool.

Chit Sang tried to subtly point at his daughter while looking confused.

No, he didn’t influence how she thought or felt. That was her own judgement, her own hate.

And that brought Hakoda to what he was doing at the moment. Thinking about Katara and how he wasn’t enough. About how they were all just kids who had to grow up too soon. 

And of course one of said kids was awake at this time of night. Because “couldn’t sleep” wasn’t exclusive to manly warriors anymore. At least Sokka seemed to be snoring comfortably.

Zuko sat a small distance next to him. Just like on the raft.

“You fought for them. For your people.”

A dry chuckle, whisper light and so, so tired, answered. 

It was accompanied with a shake of the head, but he knew all of Zuko’s tells. And that seemed to be for his own sake, so Hakoda dismissed it.

Well. Hakoda was used to carrying these conversations. Technically. He _did_ handle at least one of them.

“And for that, the Firelord.” Hakoda continued. He didn’t need to clarify. And it felt too cruel to. He was a kid, he didn’t deserve any of it. _Tui and La_ , it wasn’t even a disproportionate punishment like he assumed earlier. And if it was...

It was almost cartoonish in its evil. If Zuko was the humor type, Hakoda would’ve laughed alongside him knowing that nothing was funny and people didn’t have the right to understand the spirit’s _damned_ sense of humor. He wasn’t, so Hakoda didn’t. 

He let the silence hang, an invitation.

A nod with words was what Hakoda got this time. “And for that, yeah. I shot lightning at him, before this,” he said, probably referring to his time with Team Avatar.

Ozai definitely deserved to be shot with lightning, but Zuko was such a bad storyteller that there must have been more to that. Like why and how his father was presumably still alive seeing as Zuko was not Firelord Zuko.

“You can shoot lightning without being lethal?”

“I can’t shoot lightning. I redirected it towards his feet. It didn’t exactly hit.”

Redirected.

Hakoda really, really wanted to stab Ozai. Then club him over the head. After letting Zuko, his children, and their friends get a hit in, of course. But the final blow would be his. They didn’t need that burden on them.

“That was brave of you. You confronted your abuser, your… father, and joined the Avatar despite it having been your life’s mission previously to capture him for the Fire Nation.”

Another low chuckle, this one extra dead and rueful. “I’ve come to my senses too late. If I just joined the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, then I wouldn’t have betrayed my Uncle. And Ba Sing Se would’ve still been part of the Earth Kingdom. Not to mention, Aang wouldn’t have _died_.”

Hakoda scooted a bit closer. It was definitely just because he was cold with the lack of respectable Water Tribes clothing and muggy air at the temple.

“You could have been Azula, with your upbringing. It was very likely.”

“Is this supposed to be comforting? That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve made so many mistakes. _Sozin’s freezing balls_ , I bet my Uncle hates me.”

One, that was creative. Still wouldn’t give Bato a run for his money, but creative. 

Two, Hakoda needed to teach these children to bet properly. That was a very stupid bet. Hakoda remembered his entire stay on the Wani. That was not an Uncle who could ever hate his nephew.

“Your Uncle doesn’t hate you. He’d sooner give up his tea and Pai Sho than hate you. And you’re making up for the mistakes you’ve made. You’re owning up to them and not expecting automatic forgiveness. That’s the best you can do, son.”

Some phrases just sounded better with “son” slipped in, and they were at that point in their relationship ever since he called Zuko “son” on the raft. So. Sue him.

Apparently, even his trademark dad phrases still couldn’t sway Zuko from understanding that his Uncle was basically a weird dad. But hopefully, Zuko didn’t push it because he knew he wasn’t going to win, and not because he didn’t want to hear Hakoda’s perspective.

“I don’t know if I can ever make it up to Katara.”

“Neither of us are Katara. I don’t know either. It’s her choice to forgive you or not. You can only try to make amends.”

“If you just add a proverb, you’d sound like Uncle,” he grumbled.

Hakoda didn’t know how to feel about that, so he decided that he was going to figure it out tomorrow morning.

“You really miss him.”

He did. His entire _presence_ next to Hakoda proved it. 

Hakoda didn’t exactly know what to do. Zuko looked like he really wanted to cry. Guess his walls got tired, after all.

So, in all his sleep deprived glory, Hakoda tried.

A twitch. It was barely a nod, but he looked so desperate and _wanting_ , that Hakoda went for it.

It was subpar, by his standards. It was stiff, like the ice block he was inside. It wasn’t even an actual hug. Hugs were warm celebrations of people being together, despite the cold they were there and present and bonded with each other. Hugs were wrapping around, practically inhaling the other even if they smelled like fish and sweat. Hugs were tender, and soft, and second nature.

What they did was none of these things. 

For starters, Zuko probably wouldn’t put his face anywhere near a father. Except for maybe an Uncle. Hakoda knew that much.

Also, Zuko wasn’t even reciprocating.

But as Hakoda had his left arm slung around Zuko’s shoulder and arm, touching as little as possible, the heat comforting his left and making his right side envious, he thought that this was _right_. 

In the quiet, everything was loud. But the cicadas and random badgerfrogs said that things were going to be okay. 

That this boy, who was broken down by a laughable tyrant in the world’s worst joke, built himself back up. That he faced a father and accepted touch from him. It was enough to make Hakoda hope, for a moment. It would probably be gone, come burning morning, but it was just him and Zuko right now.

Neither of them had dignity. It was alright, he thought. For undignified fools to hope. To jump without a fallback, or helpful airbender. Although there was Aang... And Hakoda’s thoughts were getting away from him.

Hakoda poked Zuko in the shoulder. 

“You get up at dawn. Get at least an hour of sleep before that. I’m sure that training the Avatar is tiring.”

Zuko poked back. “Yes Chief Hakoda sir.” And promptly left.

That little—

Hakoda sighed and tried to not think of the children again. That was how he ended up not-sleeping in the first place.

Wait.

_“go back to kissing your newfound boyfriend”_

Hakoda half hoped that his son and Zuko did not Know each other in the same way he did Bato. Sokka would end up with so much blackmail on him.

He barely scraped past the War Balloon Ride and tonight’s dinner conversation without having to recount the Raft.

Hakoda sighed, steeled himself again to sleep on the cold Air Temple Floor, and started counting otter penguins.

######  _iii. by right_

It was… over.

And somehow the Firelord wasn’t dead. Ozai was to live a life sentence, forever weak and cold in a secure jail. That was the man’s worst nightmare, apparently. Worse than even death. To be fair, death would have martyred him with his fellow murderous imperialist buddies and supporters.

Hakoda couldn’t help but feel cheated anyway. He’d spent so long figuring out how to make the man pay: for his family, his people, his _home_ ; for all of them who grew up only knowing war because of generations of colonizers; for Zuko, who was hurt personally despite being related to the man. Only for it all to be tossed away because the Avatar’s choice meant that no one could step in and finish the job afterwards.

He shook his head. 

This was a celebration. A child was spared the burden of violence, in the end.

And, it was also Zuko’s coronation afterparty. All of the decor, and that ceremony did their best to make sure he’d never forget.

This was a celebration. Of peace. Who’d have thought? 

Not past Hakoda. Definitely not past Hakoda. Past Hakoda had dignity and didn’t hope beyond trying to live another day to go back to his children.

It was stuffier than what he was used to, but the handful of Fire Nation nobles who were drunk already were doing their best to dispel the formal air.

It was pretty funny. 

Someone was chugging wine in the far corner.

He was reminded of why he wasn’t the type to do that when newly crowned Firelord Zuko was briskly making his way towards him.

It was a Fire Nation celebration, and not a Water Tribe ceremony. He had no way to gauge the strength of their stuff and drink just enough.

“Hello, Firelord Zuko. Tired of the party?” He poked and teased.

“Chief Hakoda sir, I can’t handle politicians right now.” Fair. He was injured, and even if he wasn’t, it was still horrible.

Hakoda reminded himself to tell Zuko on what he knew about being a Head of State. Rule number one: everyone hated politicians.

But he couldn’t give specific advice unless he knew what type of politician-induced pain Zuko was suffering.

“Oh? What were they doing,” he asked.

“Some of them are disappointed in me for ending the war, some of them were trying to arrange a marriage and throwing their daughters at me, a general—I think his name was Ryo—was already bootlicking. Can I step down now?”

“It hopefully gets easier with practice, son. The time I had while negotiating with General Fong, well. I didn't actually tell you about the worst of it. It was painfully boring.”

Firelord Zuko groaned.

That was very relatable. Unfortunately, the Fire Nation probably wouldn’t take kindly to outside forces reforming their government. Even if it was for Zuko’s sake. And Hakoda knew that he, and most of the Earth Kingdom, would not accept a Firelord Iroh. 

So he tried to pivot the conversation away, because this was supposed to be Zuko’s escape from the stress he would be under.

“As Chief, and as your friends’ father, when do you think is the soonest time for you to visit?” 

“I’ve got a lot of reforms to do before then, but I think I can visit sometime within the year. Firebenders need the sun though, so please don’t schedule the visit in winter.” 

Alright. Time to plan a vacation that doubled as a summit. Zuko was a teenager. He’d need time to hang out with Hakoda’s children, and Hakoda was more than happy to provide.

“You could go this autumn. It’ll be the first time a Firelord will have visited in over a hundred years. We’ll have to make it a diplomatic summit. ”

“Yeah.” 

Yeah. He had to make it work-related for it to work. Hakoda related to the sad dismay at work being shoved into his hangout with friends. That was his entire time on the Akhlut, if you bent it enough.

He tried to console Zuko by getting him an adoption, as a treat.

“By the end of the summit, I’ll have to take you Ice Dodging with Sokka and Katara. Nothing like cultural exchange and proving yourself to the Southern Water Tribe to improve relations, right son?”

Just then, the worst possible person waltzed, though that was overstating his grace, into the conversation. “Ah, but my nephew will be a very busy man between our weekly tea and Pai Sho visits and his responsibilities to the Fire Nation. Are you sure that all this ceremony is necessary for a brief summit?” Hakoda was ready. The custody battle was on.

“Of course it is, General Iroh. A symbolic gesture of goodwill that shows the Fire Nation’s respect for the Water Tribes is best done on the first visit.”

“Do take care to consider every factor, Chief Hakoda. My nephew is not unanimously popular here in the Fire Nation, perhaps he should wait a bit before entertaining Water Tribe dignitaries.” Hakoda _hated_ that tiger sharktooth smile.

“And it’s necessary to fix diplomatic relations between the nations as soon as possible. I do believe that is in your nation’s interests. Unless you think that the Fire Nation would benefit from isolationism?”

“Of course I did not say that. But there is a lot of major restructuring that must be done in the aftermath of war, and it will keep my nephew incredibly occupied.” Iroh better not be making his nephew a workaholic. 

“He can start restructuring your nation’s cultural values by leading by example. I’m sure that with your counsel and your country’s Council or government, your country won’t fall apart in the amount of time it takes to hold an appropriate summit.”

Firelord Zuko was still standing there, not understanding the matter of great importance. He looked like he expected someone to dismiss him. Truth be told, Hakoda wanted Firelord Zuko to dismiss _him_ , but he couldn’t back out now. The General was talking in circles, and he needed to outsmart him. 

Time to gamble.

“Well, Firelord Zuko—” 

“Just Zuko, Chief Hakoda,” Just Zuko interjected.

“—Just Zuko, this is your schedule. So, I’m asking you and not your Uncle. To be clear, can you visit this autumn?”

Indecision. Ah. To be fair, Zuko couldn’t exactly predict his future schedule. But Hakoda needed to win.

So he pulled out another card.

“I’m sure that with the high stress in the early days of the job, you’ll end up needing a week free. Your Uncle can do the job, for a little while. Floating on a raft for a week with you has to count for something, right?”

If it didn’t, Hakoda would eat a bowl of raw seaprunes. 

“It does. I’m just worried that they might sabotage things while I’m gone.”

“Your Uncle can take over, for just a week.”

And then the spirits had nothing but spite for him, because General Iroh also had the same card. “I floated on a raft with you for longer than that,” he reminded his nephew.

“I know, Uncle.”

Oh, no. Hakoda would not accept failure as an option.

“General Iroh, this isn’t a rafting competition. This is about a very important diplomatic visit and cultural exchange with the Southern Tribes.”

“Of course, Chief Hakoda. I wouldn’t assume otherwise.”

Hakoda wanted to go home. With Zuko in tow. 

But no. He was here. Having another conversation with former General Iroh. So he tried to end it.

“Given that the conversation is about a very important diplomatic visit and cultural exchange, Firelord Zuko. I’ll see you there in autumn? From what my children have told me, you need to apologize to their grandmother immediately.”

Okay. Apparently winging it meant that he accidentally on purpose found yet another trap card. He knew that Mom was going to drag the boy home to apologize sooner or later anyway, and he just brought that up without consciously thinking about it. Apparently. 

That was a genius move. He resolved to figure out how to recreate it on a later date, for every single time he ran his mouth.

Zuko gave a sheepish nod at Hakoda’s words at the reminder of his first visit to their village.

And.

Finally, General Iroh acquiesced. “I’ll make sure that my nephew won’t suddenly forget about this visit. It wouldn’t do to have a Diplomatic Incident because of some snubbing, after all.” Was that a threat? Hakoda was definitely going to be sending reminders. It was his right as foreign leader with dignity, after all. 

“Thank you for your cooperation, Firelord Zuko, General Iroh. I’ll be talking to my children now.”

With that, Hakoda was grateful for a breath of fresh air as Sokka and Katara were being siblings at each other.

Of course he still had to plan for his people’s and his Tribes’ reconstruction, and the eventual vacation-summit in a few months. But in the moment, Hakoda was grateful for one thing. 

The manhood ritual wasn’t fishing.

**Author's Note:**

> Snippets of the Sokka and Hakoda conversation in the Boiling Rock are taken directly from the episode transcripts. Starting with "Yeah I ran into...". Minor variation on the canon line with "The Crown Prince? Everyone's heard of him". And then I throw the whole chat off the rails when Hakoda starts with "You got him...", because AU. Fun. It goes back to canon when they start planning though. Especially the joke about two Water Tribe geniuses. Beyond that, I don't take stuff from the episode transcripts.
> 
> I did my own twist of the Chit Sang is tied to the 41st Division fanon. Yes, I subscribe to that fanon that Kanna is Hakoda's mom. idk
> 
> ...No we don't get to Hakoda having to explain The Raft. I guess that's another idea in the WIP list.
> 
> Lastly, I hope the Hakuddles are to your satisfaction. Zuko was apparently still really touchy (pun not intended) about this, but I tried.


End file.
